The present invention relates generally to material handling apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly provides a light weight, high efficiency industrial vibrator for facilitating the handling and transport of bulk material in and through a wide variety of material handling structures.
The handling and transport of bulk material within and through material handling structures such as bins, hoppers, feeders, conveyors, and the like, are conventionally assisted by continuously vibrating such structures using devices generically referred to as industrial vibrators. Vibrators of this type typically include a hollow housing, formed from a high density metal material such as malleable cast iron, which is boltable or otherwise rigidly securable to the material handling structure, and a force generating element captively retained within the housing and cyclically driveable therein to impart vibrational forces to the material handling structure through the vibrator housing anchored thereto.
There are two primary types of industrial vibrators currently in use--linear and rotary. The linear type vibrator typically comprises a metal piston which is disposed within a heavy metal housing and reciprocated therein to impart the necessary vibrational forces to the material handling structure to which the metal housing is fixedly secured. Rotary vibrators are similarly constructed, and provided with a heavy metal housing fixedly securable to the material handling structure, but are provided with a metal force imparting structure which is rapidly rotated within the housing to transmit oscillating vibrational forces therethrough to the material handling structure.
Throughout the industrial vibrator industry, it has long been thought necessary to employ these heavy, all-metal vibrator housing structures to withstand the vibrational forces generated by the force imparting members captively retained and rapidly moved therein. However, conventional all-metal vibrator housing structures carry with them a variety of well known problems, limitations, and disadvantages.
For example, it is customary to press-fit within the housing structure interior a metal guide structure along which the metal force imparting member is moved during vibrator operation. The use of this press-fitted metal guide structure creates a high degree of operational noise and vibrational chatter when it is deflected and banged against the metal housing structure during vibrator operation. Additionally, the use of an all-metal housing structure in an industrial vibrator greatly increases the overall vibrator weight. Accordingly, large industrial vibrators of this conventional construction are typically awkward and quite difficult, particularly for one man, to lift into place and operatively secure to the particular material handling structure.
Additionally, the great weight of the typical industrial vibrator, due to its all-metal housing structure, significantly reduces its efficiency in transmitting the requisite vibrational forces from the internal force imparting member to the material handling structure. This is due to the fact that a very significant portion of the available vibrational forces is inefficiently absorbed in the metal housing and accordingly is not usefully transferred to the material handling structure. This large absorption of otherwise useful vibrational forces within the metal housing also significantly increases the overall energy which the housing must withstand In turn, this accelerates the wear upon the housing and functions to ultimately reduce the useful life of the overall vibrator structure.
In view of the foregoing, it can readily be seen that a need exists for improving the structure and operational efficiency of industrial vibrators. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide improved industrial vibrator apparatus which eliminates or minimizes the above-mentioned and other problems, limitations, and disadvantages typically associated with industrial vibrators of conventional construction.